For those that aren’t up on their Classic education, Achilles was a famous Greek hero with some divine heritage. The god involved dunked baby Achilles in the river Styx, thus making him invulnerable wherever the water touched him, which meant his heel, where the god grasped him, remained vulnerable. Achilles died, mythologically speaking, at the siege of Troy, shot in the heel by Paris, who had started the entire mess. Thus the above old saying, indicating a singular and existential weak point.
The MAGA Republicans may have another one. Yeah, that’s a bit contradictory. Ride with it.
From a recent poll by the Pew Research Center:
When asked how important each conflict is to them personally, 59% of Americans say the war between Russia and Ukraine is important to them. …
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to see the Russia-Ukraine war as important to U.S. national interests (81% vs. 69%).
Regardless of the difference between left and right, both numbers are well above 50%. This means that even in ruby red districts, and discounting unlikely clumping of anti-Ukraine sentiment, those MAGA Republicans who are against the war, such as Rep MT Greene (R-GA), may be facing unwelcome resistance to their re-election; indeed, while a Democrat may still be unlikely to win an election in such districts, a primary challenge in which the candidate differentiates from the anti-Ukraine candidate by their views on Ukraine may have a good chance of beating the incumbent.
After all, remember former Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA). He was House Majority Leader when he was successfully primaried for not being extreme enough.
So don’t be surprised if an incumbent’s views on Putin’s War become an important issue in the primaries. And such reasoning applies even more in swing districts. It may even turn Republican districts that are considered safe into swing districts.
